The foam capacity of grape juice of white varieties (Macabeo, Xarel.lo,Parellada, and Chardonnay)was related to juice characteristics to achieve the quality of rawmaterial of sparkling wine productionor to avoid foam problems in fermentation deposits. Grape juicescame from the Pened&
egrave;s Regionand were obtained at industrial scale in three consecutive years ofharvest. Juices with a maturationindex [ratio between soluble solids (
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Brix) and titratable acidity(grams of
tartaric acid per liter ofjuice)] ranging from 4 to 5.5 had high foamability. Chardonnayjuices had the best ripenesscharacteristics, and as result, these varietal juices showed the bestfoam capacity. It was alsoestablished that foaming properties also depend on several compounds(proteins, sugars, polyphenols,and alcohols) that can decrease the surface tension of the juices and,thus, increase foamability.Foam characteristics of grape juices could be predicted usingequations based on simple enologicalparameters related to ripening and could be adjusted with practicessuch as SO
2 addition and aciditycorrection.Keywords: Foam capacity; grape juices; surface tension; maturation index;Mosalux